


adsum

by Jaspberi



Series: at length the story is told [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, Soulmate AU, more to be added - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:07:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27697384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jaspberi/pseuds/Jaspberi
Summary: Technically a rewrite, except the original version isn't up anymore~Adsum~Soulmate AU, the first words your soulmate says to you are written somewhere on your body.Akiara had left her village, pulled away from home by her soulmates words.
Relationships: Akiara/Hatake Kakashi, More to be added - Relationship
Series: at length the story is told [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2025601
Kudos: 8





	1. a chance encounter

Leaving Kumogakure has never been a choice that Akiara regretted.  
In a way, it was always inevitable.  
In a different way, being out, unattached to any village is a relief.  
She generally tries to ignore the fact that her place of birth, the place she’d grown up calling home, thinks she’s dead.  
  
Currently, Akiara is in the Land of Waves.  
All the jobs available . . .leave a bad taste in her mouth.  
The Land of Waves is not a place of wealth, no doubt Akiara will be leaving soon, quietly and quickly.  
There’s always the option of working on the bridge, but the bridge builder has yet to hire anyone to guard him and the bridge as it’s built - and that’s not a job Akiara will be taking, thank you very much.  
  
Her working on the bridge would also dependent on who the bridge builder hires.  
Anyone from Kumo is a risk, she wasn’t well known, but there’s always the chance that it will be someone that recognizes her.  
As far as Akiara is aware, the bridge builder isn’t even _on_ the island, chances are he’ll return with an escort.  
She hadn’t been around to hear of where he was going either.

While he’s away, Akiara finds herself staying near his home, she knows he has a daughter and a grandson.  
Both left with a space where the boys father used to be.  
She never goes too close, just enough to assure they live.

================================

The bridge builder returns to the village in a shroud of fog.  
Akiara watches as he gets off the boat, three genin and a jounin with him.  
She herself had only been chunin when she’d left Kumogakure, not that it matters, this team is from Konoha, they wont engage her even if they do see her.  
  
They leave her sight and her mind for a while, until she feels the flickering chakra of their jounin.  
Without really thinking it through, Akiara races towards their location, just in time to watch the jounin topple.

Akiara freezes at the sight, she doesn’t see anyone, but she had felt a different chakra, the jounin had been fighting someone, they just aren’t here anymore.  
  


The three genin just look entirely confused and unsure of what to do.  
Akiara steps in, she lifts the jounin up onto her shoulder and regards the genin calmly, gesturing with one hand, ‘Tazuna lives this way.’ The jounin is actually lighter than she’d expect of someone that she . . .guesses to be in their thirties?  
  
The three stare, Tazuna seems thoughtful - perhaps he’s seen her before, it isn’t impossible.  
The blond genin is first to speak, the most impulsive of the lot, most likely, ‘Who are you?? Sensei would say we shouldn’t trust you.’  
  
‘He’s right,’ Akiara allows, she starts walking and they follow, almost like ducklings, she thinks with some amusement.  
She’s glad Tazuna doesn’t live far from where they had stopped, she doesn’t think she could lug the jounin around for terribly long.

‘Where am I putting him?’ she requests as they enter Tazuna’s house, she’s been near, but never inside, doesn’t know her way around the house.  
Tazuna is quick to direct her to a bedroom, Akiara glances to the genin, ‘your sensei should be fine with some rest,’ she informs them, ‘I have a feeling chakra exhaustion isn’t a new experience for him.’

  
If Akiara is correct, this jounin is Hatake Kakashi, copy ninja Kakashi.  
She hadn’t been aware he had a genin team, but here they are.  
It’s in her best interest to be gone by time he wakes up, and out of the country.

But the female genin looks so pathetically small, she finds her chest aches for her.  
  
Has no one taught the girl about having a proper diet? the girl will waste away before she ever makes chunin.  
She’s clearly from a civilian family, so maybe Akiara can understand a little, but it takes a village to raise a child - someone should have fixed the girls eating by now.  
  
She sighs, dropping into the chair by the jounin’s bed, suddenly tired.  
The three genin stand at the end of the bed, equally anxious, equally uncertain.  
‘Hey lady,’ the blond speaks up, ‘you never told us who you are!’ his finger waves about in the air as he speaks, other hand on his hip.  
  
‘Akiara,’ she’d abandoned her old name when she’d faked her death and fled home, she didn’t need anything more than a single name now, ‘and you’re genin from Konoha.’  
‘I’m Uz-’ the blond goes to yell, but is cut off when the female whacks the back of his head, hissing, ‘Naruto! you can’t just give out your full name.’  
  
Naruto laughs, ‘I’m Naruto, and I’m going to be Hokage!’ his voice gets louder with each word, Akiara winces.  
‘Sakura,’ the female blushes, the third genin doesn’t say anything, Naruto rolls his eyes.  
  
Akiara regards each of them thoughtfully, they’re better off if they aren’t in here worrying, but she’s not quite sure what she can teach them that can keep them busy.  
‘Have you been taught to use chakra to climb trees yet?’ she finally asks.  
  


‘Why would we need catra to climb trees?’ Naruto asks, not yelling at least, ‘I’m really good at climbing trees.’  
No questions about why they might need to climb trees as shinobi at least, Akiara sighs again, ‘come outside,’ she stands.  
  
The unnamed genin looks the most reluctant out of the three, but even he follows Akiara outside and a little away from the house.  
They head to a small area near Tazuna’s house, an area that Akiara herself had used for training once or twice while Tazuna had been away.  
  
Akiara calmly walks up the trunk of a tree using chakra, she’d always had somewhat good chakra control, had spent a lot of time working on it. She supposes it makes sense that it’s this she’s teaching them.  
A part of her is also questioning why their jounin hadn’t already taught them this, had he just not had them long? and if that was the case, why were they this far outside of the village?  
  
She stays perched on a branch as she explains to the genin what she expects them to do, not faltering when she sees Naruto’s confused expression.  
It’s likely he learns better from doing than from hearing an explanation.  
Once Sakura and the other genin have each gone to a tree, Akiara goes to Naruto and gives him a more simplified explanation, also having to explain what chakra is.  
  
How does a genin get to the stage of being a genin without having an understanding of what chakra is? wonders Akiara to herself, she absently pats Naruto on the back and points to a tree.  
’You’re not from Konoha,’ comes Tazuna’s voice.  
  


Akiara turns to face him, ‘No,’ she agrees, ‘is that a problem?’  
‘My daughter says she’s noticed you around a few times,’ remarks Tazuna, not answering her question, ‘taking small jobs.’  
‘Preparing to leave,’ answers Akiara, turning back to watch the genin, she doesn’t spot Sakura right away, she tilts her head back - the girl has gotten quite far up the tree, Sakura sees her looking and waves.  
  
‘Good job,’ Akiara calls out to her, meaning every word, ‘good chakra control is pretty important for medical jutsu and you may need it with teammates like yours.’  
Sakura beams, apparently not certain of Akiara, but happy to recieve praise all the time.  
The one who didn’t give his name scowls, but he seems at least a little more motivated.  
‘Wow, you’re so awesome, Sakura-chan!’ yells Naruto, he beams up at Sakura and Akiara notices Sakura roll her eyes.  
  


================================  
  
They’re all called for dinner when it starts to get dark.  
Akiara politely refuses when she’s offered a plate and instead goes upstairs to check on the jounin.  
She’s experienced chakra exhaustion before, it’s a lot scarier when in unfamiliar territory, the Jounin wouldn’t have allowed himself to be in this situation if he hadn’t been fighting for lives.  
  
She’s been sitting there for a few minutes when the jounin begins to stir, he regards her with a somewhat groggy gaze for a moment before forcing himself upright and reaching for a kunei, no doubt having noticed her hitai-ate with the slash through the symbol.  
  
‘It’s okay,’ Akiara tells him, wondering if maybe she should have removed the hitai-ate, her words are somewhat automatic.  
This just seems to alarm him more, singular uncovered eye going wide, ‘you’re a rogue ninja,’ he blurts.  
  
Akiara goes still.  
He notices her stillness, ‘let me see your mark,’ he rasps.  
Akiara regards him with some curiosity, she’d always known her soulmate wasn’t likely to be from her village, chances are he’s going to be needing some time to adjust to the fact she isn’t from his.  
  
She starts unwinding the red cloth that covers both her forearms, presents the messy scrawl on her inner arm to him.  
He draws in a deep breath, removes a glove and shows the small but tidy text running from his finger onto his knuckle, those instinctive words she’d spoken on seeing his alarm, ‘it’s okay.’  
  
The pair regard each other, unprepared for this exact situation. Each uncertain.  
‘You left your village because of my words,’ he guesses, ‘I’m Hatake Kakashi,’ he still looks somewhat alarmed, aware that she hadn’t known about their matching marks until now, still worried for his genin.  
  
Akiara inclines her head, begins to put the red cloth back in place, ‘Akiara, your genin are safe outside.’  
  
  
([Art instagram if you want to see my Nart Art Sooner](https://www.instagram.com/jaspberi.art/))  
  
  



	2. a chance encounter pt 2

Kakashi’s somewhat confused when he wakes up.  
Vaguely he recalls Zabuza being taken away by . . .a person in a mask?  
He opens his eye and the first thing he registers is danger, there’s a woman in the room with him, she’s wearing red and there’s a Kumogakure hitai-ate with a slash through it on her arm.  
  
Panic is his first reaction as he reaches for any kind of weapon.  
‘It’s okay,’ the woman tells him, Kakashi feels himself freeze up further, recognizing the words written on his own hands. This is possibly his soulmate, her reaction to his next words are important.  
  
‘You’re a rogue ninja,’ he blurts out before he can help himself, so much for putting any kind of thought into it.  
The woman goes still, expression thoughtful. So this . . .definitely is his soulmate.  
  
‘Let me see your mark,’ requests Kakashi, his voice is raspy.  
Her expression is unreadable, she starts unwinding red cloth from one of her arms, presents his messy handwriting printed on her inner arm.  
  
She’d no doubt left her village because of those words, anyone with those words would know staying home isn’t a path to meet their soulmate.  
She’d had no real choice, maybe as soon as the words had formed, her soul had pulled her towards leaving. Kakashi draws in a deep breath, he resists the urge to reach out and touch it.  
  
‘You left your village because of my words,’ he pulls his glove off, showing the small tidy writing on his finger to her, ‘I’m Hatake Kakashi,’ his gaze settles on her arm, on those words in his own familiar handwriting.  
‘Akiara,’ responds the woman, ‘your genin are safe outside.’  
  
Relief floods into his system, he moves to get out of bed and is stopped by the amused look on Akiara’s face, she finds him . . funny?  
‘You need crutches,’ she tells him, she stands, retrieving some from by the door, ‘Tsunami said you could use these.’  
  
‘What are the genin doing,’ inquires Kakashi, accepting the crutches and very slowly following her out the door, his whole body aches and he still feels exhausted. He wonders how long he was unconscious for.  
  
Chakra exhaustion, regardless of how many times he’s felt it by now, is still no joke.  
He’s actually glad he isn’t in Konoha, he’s sick of the hospital.  
‘I set them up with chakra training,’ replies Akiara, ‘walking up trees using chakra,’ she pauses, ‘your Sakura has pretty decent chakra control.’  
  
Sakura isn’t usually the first of his genin that people compliment, but Kakashi isn’t going to question it. (However he is a little concerned that Akiara knows his genin’s name, had they no self-preservation?)  
‘You didn’t know about me being your soulmate until I woke up,’ observes Kakashi, notices the tiny shift to Akiara’s expression, ‘you had no reason to help my team or help their training,’ the unspoken question of why is there. Being soulmates won’t make him trust her.  
  
‘After leaving Kumogakure I made a conscious effort to not put myself negatively on any villages map, but being hidden isn’t entirely possible, so I try to be considered a positive force,’ drawls Akiara, voice dry, she looks bored, like this is something she’s told a lot of people, ‘so if I encounter genin, or even chunin, sometimes jounin, I help them best I can.’  
  
‘And your village hasn’t sent anyone after you? you deserted your village,’ Kakashi’s guessing she’s somewhat intelligent, smart enough that any village wouldn’t just let her slip away.  
He isn’t sure about her skills, she had set his team up with chakra training, so maybe she has good chakra control, but that theory is still up in the air.  
  
‘Faked my death,’ Akiara lets out a bark of laughter but stops abruptly, regards him with a bored look that’s at odds with the laugh she’d done moments prior, ‘it was the easiest way to leave.’  
  
Outside the three genin immediately seem relieved to see their sensei, it’s most obvious on Naruto who immediately abandons his attempts at chakra control to charge towards Kakashi.  
Kakashi prepares himself mentally to be knocked to the ground, but Naruto’s charge is stopped easily as Akiara steps in front of Kakashi and stops Naruto with a palm to his forehead, ‘chill,’ she drawls, ‘your sensei still needs to recover.’  
  
Naruto wiggles impatiently and knocks Akiara’s hand outside with a grin.  
Kakashi gestures for all three of his genin to come listen to him, Sakura’s careful as she makes her way to the ground from the top of the tree.  
He notices the way look Sasuke shoots Akiara’s way, wonders if his grumpy student has even said a single word to her. He wont tell them that Akiara is his soulmate, not just yet at least. It’s something he and Akiara need to discuss before anyone knows.  
  
From the fact Zabuza’s body was taken . . .rather than destroyed on the spot, Kakashi is thinking that just maybe that hunter-nin was an ally of Zabuza’s, that maybe Zabuza is still alive.  
There’ll still be a recovery time, regardless of what really happened.  
He tells the genin just as much, notices Akiara incline her head forward in a very slight nod, she’s quiet as he finishes with, ‘We have a week at best to prepare for his next attack.’  
  
Kakashi looks over each of them, he’d noted Sakura being at the top of the tree, but Sasuke and Naruto still hadn’t managed to walk up their trees, ‘The tree walking is a good training method,’ he tells them, he possibly might have gotten them doing it himself if Akiara hadn’t, ‘so I want you to keep at that, then I’ll give you something else to do after.’  
  
‘Hai,’ choruses all three genin, the two boys go back to training, Sakura just looks uncertain.  
Kakashi sighs, then is startled by the feel of a hand on his arm, ‘you should be sitting down,’ Akiara informs him, her hair is thick, he can only see one of her eyes, gleeming red, ‘you shouldn’t have gotten out of bed at all.’  
  
Kakashi almost rolls his eyes but allows Akiara to lead them over to a tree stump, ‘In Konoha, they allow the soulmates of their citizens to move into the village,’ he observes to Akiara, he wonders if Kumogakure has anything similar, doubts they do.  
He’s likely being a little hasty in bringing this up to Akiara, he’d only just met her, didn’t really trust her either, even if she was directly helpful to both him and his genin.  
  
Konoha accepted soulmates in without hesitation, but naturally kept an eye on the outsider.  
As a village, they were always aiming towards growth, accepting soulmates was a step towards that.  
It was a known issue in other villages that didn’t accept their ninja’s soulmates that the ninja was likely to just leave.  
  


Akiara perches on the stump at his side, ‘do you want me to go to Konoha with you? some people decide not to know their soulmate at all.’  
Growing up, Kakashi’s soulmate had played on his mind often. He’d always been curious about it since he first learned of the concept.  
  
His own father, Sakumo, his soulmate had been one of his teammates, and they’d remained platonic, Sakumo had still loved Kakashi’s mother more than anything.  
After that mission where his teammate died, nothing about Sakumo had ever been the same again.  
  
Would one still feel that grief if they met as he and Akiara had and simply split ways never to see each other again? if Akiara fled to somewhere far away, and died, would Kakashi still feel it?  
Getting to know his soulmate is a risk, not knowing his soulmate is also a risk, it’s all about which risk Kakashi would rather take.  
  
‘I wouldn’t mind giving friendship a go,’ he pauses, ‘pretty sure I’m allowed those.’  
‘Allowed friends?’ Akiara shoots him an amused look, her expression drops back into a neutral one right after, ‘I wouldn’t mind being in a village again,’ she says, voice lower, ‘I wouldn’t mind trying friendship, either.’  
  
It occurs to Kakashi that Akiara is somewhat pretty. Her hair is thick and healthy looking, it covers one eye entirely.  
Her face is slightly on the broad side but in a way that’s appealing. She’s only a few inches shorter than he is and built for strength.  
Her clothes are all shades of gray and dark red, no signs of any obvious weapons.  
Interesting.  
  
Akiara glances to Sakura who is standing at a distance and looking uncertain, her expression is unreadable. Kakashi waits to see what she’ll do.  
‘Sakura,’ Akiara stands, ‘how’s your taijutsu?’ she leads Sakura a little further way from Kakashi and he watches as the pair talk before Akiara starts moving Sakura through an exercise.

================================  
  


‘You only gave one name,’ is the first thing Kakashi says to her the next day, it’s breakfast time and Akiara had spent the last five minutes convincing Sakura to eat a larger portion.  
  
Akiara observes that the Hatake at least looks slightly better today, she can only see a very small amount of his face, but it looks slightly less pale.  
He’ll probably still need a further few days recovery, at least he will recovery - some don’t get that luxury.  
She shakes her thoughts away, ‘figured I lost the rights to my clans name when I faked my own death,’ she shrugs loosely, her legs feel boneless, as they do whenever she mentions her clan, ‘so now I’m just Akiara,’ a pause, ‘which isn’t my birth name either.’  
  
‘So you changed your entire name.’  
  
From two names to one, her old name had an idea of belonging built in. This one doesn’t.  
She hums idly, ‘it wouldn’t exactly make sense for a rogue Kumo nin with the same name of someone recently deceased to appear, and the idea of making up some false clan name,’ Akiara winces briefly, ‘just seemed too dishonest.’  
  
The pair are perched on the tree stump from the previous day watching the genin train, but now Akiara turns her gaze towards Kakashi, ‘my name was Fumiko,’ she says, voice soft, quiet.  
She doesn’t like the sound of her old name hanging in the air.  
  
Sakura has walked up to the top of one of the trees, she waves down at Kakashi and Akiara happily.  
Kakashi tilts his head back and nods up at the genin, he looks back to Akiara, and for a moment it’s like he wants to say something.  
He reconsiders before Akiara can even take much note of it.  
‘What would you have her work on next?’ asks Kakashi, he glances to Sakura, ‘she’s weak in taijutsu and ninjutsu, she can break lower level genjutsu, the academy marked her down as having the inclination for it, she’s good at absorbing information.’  
  
Akiara is somewhat surprised that Kakashi would ask her that, perhaps he’s testing her, she’s not sure what kind of test this would be, but that doesn’t rule out the possiblity.  
Sakura comes back down the tree, less careful than she’d been the previous day, perhaps gaining confidence.  
  
‘She has good chakra control, she should learn medical jutsu eventually, but I’m guessing that’s not something you can teach her,’ Akiara notes Kakashi’s slight nod, ‘meditation, then,’ she decides, ‘some kinds of meditation can help her grow her chakra pool, she’ll never be the powerhouses your other two seem to be, but she can still deepen it.’  
  
Sasuke and Naruto had spent all of the previous afternoon charging at their trees, and had worked into the night also, showing no signs of chakra exhaustion.  
Using chakra to stick to trees may not take up much, but neither genin has mastered it and are likely using more than is strictly necessary.  
  


Akiara almost considers offering to teach Sakura herself, but she doubts Kakashi will trust her with this, and she doesn’t blame him or expect him to trust her, she doesn’t trust him either.  
She’d no doubt already over stepped her mark by setting up the genin with this training exercise while he was unconscious, and her instructing Sakura in taijutsu the previous day. He hadn’t exactly scolded her for her actions either, hadn’t seemed particularly bothered by them, was even seeking her opinion now.  
  
There’s a slight drag to Kakashi’s actions as he stands and goes over to Sakura, had he been in his own village, he’d no doubt be in a hospital right now. Akiara resolves to stay somewhat near him, she doesn’t need to trust him to watch his back.  
  
She thinks on his offer for her to return to his village with him and his team. Akiara hadn’t been lying when she said she wouldn’t mind being in a village again.  
Her goal had always been to ultimately settle _somewhere_ again, not necessarily a shinobi village, but somewhere she could call home.  
Being a shinobi of a village is a lot more secure than being a rogue nin, she considers, even if shinobi are often assigned dangerous missions. Being a part of something means resources, and allies generally.

================================

Akiara is still near the team from Konoha.  
Just out of their sight for now, close enough to still hear if anything happens.  
She’d decided she needed to keep up with her own training if she were going to be of any use.  
  
Her primary method of fighting is using a staff, she has both a bo staff and a hanbo staff for this purpose.  
And while she can accomplish a lot using chakra in various ways with either staff, she’s just of the opinion that raw strength will always carry her further. 

Matsukawa had always rolled her eyes and snorted at the extra training Akiara did to be just that bit physically stronger.  
  
Matsukawa had always been a long range fighter, when she’s serious, no one gets near her even for a moment.  
It wasn’t something Akiara ever thought she could do, she’d always be the up close and personal kind of fighter.  
  
She supposes Kakashi might agree with Matsukawa.  
After all, Kakashi’s known for copying jutsu, likely relies on jutsu, maybe that eye of his, too.  
Either way, Akiara isn’t in a hurry to seriously fight him.  
In fact, she’d rather do her best to specifically avoid that.  
A part of her wonders at how compatible she and Kakashi would be, would they work as a team on the field? Or would it be likely that they’d just get under each others feet?  
It isn’t generally recommended to send soulmates out on missions together anyway.  
  
She’s immediately aware of it when Sakura appears at the edge of the small clearing Akiara has claimed.  
She continues through her routine, finishing it before turning to Sakura, swinging her hanbo staff so it latches back onto it’s strap on her back, ‘bored of watching the boys?’ she inquires.  
  
Sakura lets out a soft eep at being noticed but moves closer, ‘you’re really good with that staff,’ she comments, she shuffles her feet, looking somewhat uncertain.  
‘I’ve been training with it for a very long time,’ Akiara answers, notices a gleem of interest in Sakura’s eyes, ‘if your sensei agrees, I can train you a little in using one.’  
  
‘Really?’ Sakura immediately perks up, she glances over her shoulder back towards where the rest of her team is, ‘but why does Kakashi-sensei need to agree?’ she pouts.  
‘He’s in charge of your training,’ answers Akiara, somewhat amused, ‘he needs to be in the know about what kinds of training you’re receiving to make sure you don’t push yourself too hard, come on, we’ll go talk to him now,’ she places a hand on Sakura’s shoulder as she walks past, leaving it there as they both walk back towards the others.  
  
  
[(Art instagram if you wanna see my Nart Art Sooner)](https://www.instagram.com/jaspberi.art/)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wanna have art on each chapter - feel free to suggest Naruto characters for me to draw


	3. Events of the Bridge

Almost a week later, Akiara decides not to accompany them to the bridge.  
She’s spent most of her free time working with Sakura, getting her started in learning how to use a staff, improving the girls meditation techniques and refining her chakra control.  
Akiara’s pretty sure she’s earned the break from being around genin.  
  
Not that she is entirely away from genin. Naruto is still in bed, having exhausted himself the previous night. Akiara doubts he’ll stay asleep long, the blond seems to bounce back quicker than anyone ever expects.  
Akiara is content to help Tsunami with housework, she even chose to wear a simple dress and apron rather than her usual gear.  
  
It’s relaxing doing mundane everyday stuff instead of shinobi stuff.  
She’d picked up her belongings from where she’d been staying earlier in the week, figuring she may as well stay where Team 7 is if she’s going to be spending so much time with Sakura anyway.  
None of them had commented at her moving herself in, either.  
  
It’s also a chance to get to know her soulmate.  
She couldn’t have ever expected someone like Hatake Kakashi to be her soulmate, but here they are, and she’ll just have to deal with that as best she can.  
She could imagine Kakashi’s soulmate being a target, someone used to get to him.  
  


The thought makes her hesitate just a little.  
But she thinks she does want to join Konoha. Not only for the fact that’s where her soulmate will be.  
She does want to have a home again, and maybe she likes training Sakura just a little.  
She wonders if it’s possible for her to part from Kakashi now? what kind of affect did it have to meet your soulmate this briefly then leave before you can really know each other?  
  
She’s out behind the house when she hears the sounds of struggle, Tsunami by the sounds of it, and the woman is putting up quite a fight.  
There’s also the sound of Naruto waking up, then him yelling.  
Akiara grabs her hanbo staff from where she’d placed it and heads straight for the front of the house, suddenly irritated at her choice to wear a nice dress today.  
  
Three men are there, obviously attempting to kidnap Tsunami.  
No doubt men sent by Gato, they hadn’t accounted for Naruto staying home or Akiara being there.  
Naruto is fighting two of the men, and making good use of his shadow clones. The third keeps a grip on Tsunami’s arm.  
  


Akiara moves forward without hesitation, she shifts chakra through her arms and back to strengthen her blow, brings her staff down on his wrist with a harsh crack that leaves her assured his wrist is definitely broken. The man yowls under the impact, is left with no choice but to release Tsunami.  
  
She’s quick to twirl her staff and carry through with another attack, which quickly sends the man running.  
The pair Naruto is fighting see their teammate running and are quick to follow. ‘Whoa, cool weapon,’ remarks Naruto, bouncing over to Akiara.  
Akiara ignores him in favour of checking Tsunami over, her arm is beginning to bruise where the man had grabbed her, but she sees fine otherwise.  
  
‘Go help your team,’ Akiara tells Naruto, unsure if sending Naruto off alone is a good idea, but not yet willing to leave Tsunami, ‘Zabuza’s probably having another attempt at the bridge builder.’  
  
‘Oh!’ goes Naruto, looking startled, he quickly dashes into the house - presumably to get dressed.  
Akiara rolls her eyes and leads Tsunami inside, quickly locating her son.  
The pair are fine aside from a few bruises on Tsunami, and Akiara doesn’t think Gato will send more men here when his focus is the bridge builder.

Akiara decides to stay with the pair a little longer after Naruto leaves anyway.  
Even if the worst that happened was a few bruises, they’re clearly shaken up.  
And it’s not as if the mission to protect the bridge builder is _her_ mission anyway.

================================  
  


Akiara arrives at the bridge later than Naruto.  
She sees the young ninja glance towards where Kakashi is readying to land a killing blow on Zabuza, she sees the glint to his eyes.  
Akiara throws herself forward into the action, tackling the young boy before he can get between his master and her soulmate.  
  
A howl tears it’s way out of the young male, loud enough to startle Akiara even. He struggles to escape Akiara’s grip, but clearly he hasn’t been as focused on strength training as Akiara has.  
The howl is loud enough that Kakashi comes to a sudden halt, eyes wide. Not an error the copy nin would usually make.  
  
Zabuza takes the moment to pull free, his gaze shifting to his ally for just a moment.  
Before anyone can make another move, there’s a slow clap from the end of the bridge.  
Akiara’s captive goes still, eyes narrowing as he stares down the bridge. Akiara keeps hold of him anyway, even as she gets them both standing.

Akiara frowns as she looks down the bridge herself, Gato stands there, surrounded by his hired thugs.  
She’s never actually seen Gato with her own eyes before, and she has to admit he’s a lot shorter than she might have expected.  
Short men fearing bridges, huh.  
  
Gato moves forward, ambling along the bridge at an almost leisurely place, his gaze drags over Zabuza, noting his injured arms, ‘did quite the job on you, didn’t he Zabuza? you don’t look any more dangerous than a wet kitten,’ he smiles broadly and glances over towards Akiara, who still has hold of the young male, ‘and your little pet doesn’t look much better, and while I’m surprised to find you both alive, I’m disappointed.’  
  
Akiara’s captive doesn’t struggle at all, instead he silently stares at Gato, expression unreadable.  
‘Gato?’ inquires Zabuza, frowning, ‘what is all this? why are you here? with all these thugs?’  
Akiara glances towards Kakashi, he’s probably guesses the same thing she has - that Gato never intended to pay Zabuza at all, she wonders if her captive has realized the same thing. It’s likely he has.  
  


Gato taps his cane on the ground, humming thoughtfully, ‘well, you see. There’s been a slight change in plans, according to the new plan,’ Gato drawls, ‘you all die on this bridge,’ he grins widely.  
Akiara focuses on his cane for just a moment instead of really listening, it looks to be some stupid expensive thing, well made. She doubts Gato could ever use it as the weapon it was intended to be.  
  
Kakashi glances over his shoulder towards Akiara, scanning the way she holds her captive with two firm hands on each of his shoulders, then glancing towards his three genin. Sakura still stands in front of Tazuna, kunei raised.  
  
‘That’s right,’ continues Gato, he twirls his cane before firmly leaning on it again, ‘you’re too expensive, so I’ve decided to take you off the payroll,’ he pauses to look smug, ‘of course, even these thugs cost money, so if you could manage to slaughter a few of them before they take you down,’ he pauses again, ‘I’d appreciate it.’  
  
Akiara scowls, she shifts her stance and releases her captive in the same move, ignoring the startled look he shoots her. She keeps her focus on Gato, waits to see who will make the next move.  
  
Gato continues to mock Zabuza but it’s clear that Zabuza isn’t listening, instead he’s turned his attention to Kakashi, the pair gaze at each other calmly.  
‘It seems the enemy of my enemy is my enemy, I propose we work together and take this scum out,’ remarks Zabuza to Kakashi, his gaze flicks to Akiara very briefly.  
  
Kakashi in turn glances to Akiara, who immediately nods. She can have his back for this.  
Zabuza’s gaze is assessing as he glances from Kakashi to Akiara, then to his ally, ‘Haku,’ he says, there’s a hint of warmth to his voice, ‘I’m glad she stopped you.’ He looks back to Gato, he looks like he wants to say something, but he stays silent.  
  
Akiara inches forward, hanbo staff gripped firmly in both hands, she shifts to a more confident stride when Kakashi moves up to Zabuza’s right side, she stands at Zabuza’s left, chin raised.  
‘I’ll get Gato,’ declares Zabuza, ‘if you could keep the thugs off me, I’d appreciate it.’  
  
Naturally, Akiara wouldn’t expect it to go any other way.  
The three move forward as a unit, Zabuza slightly ahead.  
She can smell that distinct oozone smell of Kakashi’s lightning technique. She keeps her chakra fluid, directing it as needed to strengthen blows landed with her staff.  
  
A part of her really wants him to teach that to her, her own chakra natures are earth and lightning, but she’s never been good with ninjutsu. Had relied on taijutsu to graduate from the Academy.  
  


Gato screams at the sight of Zabuza getting closer.  
Zabuza is quick to stab the right side of Gato’s chest as soon as he’s close enough, Akiara smoothly moves forward to defend Zabuza’s back, twirling her hanbo to deflect spears wielded by the thugs.  
  
‘You crazy fool,’ Gato has to force the words out, ‘you aren’t going to kill me, I’m better than you! the rich always come out on top!’ blood dribbles from his lips.  
Zabuza doesn’t reply to that, moves forward, Gato is forced to take a step back, he cowers as he does so.  
  
‘What’d you expect when you chose to cross a demon ninja?’ asks Zabuza in a low drawl, now right in Gato’s face, ‘you may have tried sending me to hell, but it’s clear here that it’s you who will go, and I can’t think of a more fitting place for a man like you,’ he removes the kunei from Gato’s chest, swiftly slashes across his chest before slitting his throat also, he grasps hold of Gato’s cane before shoving him.  
  
Gato falls from the bridge.  
It’s silent.  
The three of them are still within the thick of the thugs, who are only momentarily paused by their boss’s death.  
Akiara eyes them with some wariness, it’s likely they will have to kill all of them to get out of this.  
  
Even if the thugs don’t attack them, they’re a risk to the village, they’re likely to take all they can from it.  
Kakashi moves so he’s almost at Akiara’s side, his own back to Zabuza.  
‘Naruto! look!’ comes Sakura’s bridge from the other end of the bridge, ‘it’s Sasuke! Sasuke’s alive!’  
  
Akiara shoots Kakashi a baffled look, had something happened to Sasuke? Sasuke was the angry dark haired one, right? she frowns.  
Kakashi seems to relax just slightly at the news.  
‘Don’t go getting too comfortable,’ remarks one of the thugs - another of them nods, ‘this party isn’t over,’ he agrees, ‘who’s going to pay us now that Gato’s gone??’  
  
There’s a lull, Akiara notices Kakashi frown, observes that he’s likely somewhat low on chakra from using his lightning jutsu so much. She has her theories when it comes to Kakashi.  
And of course Zabuza is injured, so are the three genin.  
She briefly observes that Zabuza still has Gato’s cane in his grasp.  
  
Only herself and Haku are in good shape still.  
Some of the thugs swiftly turn to fight Zabuza, Akiara and Kakashi, while the rest charge towards the genin. Akiara’s surprised they’re capable of being coordinated enough to split into two groups like that.  
  
They don’t get far. An arrow comes flying, landing in front of the half that had headed for the genin.  
Akiara’s gaze lifts to see the entire village standing at the genin’s back, each armed with whatever they’d been able to get their hands on.  
  


Inari stands at the front of them all.  
Kakashi glances to Naruto, he grabs Akiara’s arm and gestures for Zabuza, leading them to the side of the bridge right as the Uzumaki creates a large amount of shadow clones.  
Haku looks to Zabuza, who nods. Haku copies Naruto’s move, creating a decent amount of shadow clones - but not near the amount Naruto did.  
  
The thugs pause at this. Akiara has managed to move down the side of the bridge alongside Zabuza and Kakashi, she assesses her chakra levels and swiftly creates as many shadow clones as she can.  
Which is clearly more than the thugs signed on for, as they immediately flee.  
There’s cheering from the villagers.

================================  
  
  
‘The staff is your primary weapon,’ Zabuza guesses.  
Akiara nods.  
Gato may not be a problem, but Naruto and Sasuke had been through something intense.  
And Kakashi wasn’t in shape for travel either.  
So they were staying a further few days.  
  
Akiara was somewhat pleased about this, as it meant longer to make her final decision on whether or not to go to Konoha with them. She’s not sure it’s really in the air at this point, she thinks she really is going to go with them.  
  
Staying longer has apparently meant Zabuza has invited himself over to Tazuna’s house on two different occasions now, just to speak to Akiara. And on one of his visits had gifted Gato’s cane to her.  
‘You’re pretty strong, too,’ continues Zabuza.  
  
‘Can’t always rely on chakra and jutsu,’ answers Akiara.  
‘Considered learning the sword?’ inquires Zabuza, his gaze slides to where he’s placed Kubikiribocho, Akiara’s gaze follows his.  
  
Something is off about the entire thing, Akiara thinks to herself, thinks weren’t supposed to happen like this.  
‘I hadn’t,’ she answers, ‘you offering to teach me?’ she offers up a wide grin that has Zabuza quirking an eyebrow upwards.  
  
‘I could teach you a little in the time you have before you leave,’ allows Zabuza, he shoots her an unreadable look, ‘you’re the Hatake’s soulmate,’ he guesses.  
Akiara doesn’t answer out loud, just calmly gazes back at him.  
  
Zabuza smirks, ‘I’ll teach you a little, but you keep learning, and one day you find me and we fight for real, you’ve got potential and I want to see where that goes.’  
  
  
  
[[Art instagram if you want to see my Nart Art sooner]](https://www.instagram.com/jaspberi.art/)  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for December I'm going to try doing one drawing per day - so I might update this fic a little more often (bc I only post new chapters when I have art to go with it)


	4. The Hidden Leaf Village

Akiara had ended up sharing a room with Sakura. Which isn’t bad, she supposes.  
It’s nice having somewhere safe to stay. She’s generally used to watching her own back, but it’s also nice to have someone else there, too.  
  
And even if she hadn’t been Hatake’s soulmate, if she had been near the genin and the place had been attacked, she would have been automatically protected by Kakashi’s efforts to protect his genin.  
  


Currently she and Kakashi sit outside while the three genin rest inside.  
‘I was a chunin before I left Kumogakure,’ she tells Kakashi, it’s been a long time since she’s said any of this out loud, ‘I never saw the point in rushing for promotions,’ she snorts, ‘I worked hard enough so I knew I’d survive being a rogue ninja, but never tried to be noticed.’  
  
It’s strange saying this out loud, for a long time all her plans had been internal. Silently mused over to herself.  
Being someone’s soulmate means having someone to talk to. Being part of Konoha means having a safety net.  
  
‘Is the staff your primary weapon?’ inquires Kakashi, he sounds somewhat interested, but not in the way Zabuza had, more like Kakashi is taking the chance to get to know his soulmate.  
Akiara nods, ‘I have both a hanbo staff and a bo staff, I use taijutsu also, and Zabuza seems to have his heart set on me learning to handle a sword,’ she shoots Kakashi an amused smile, ‘my chakra natures are lightning and earth, so I know jutsu of both types, but I’d never rely on ninjutsu.’  
  
Kakashi taps his hitai-ate, ‘I’m sure you’ve heard what I’ve been called, I can safely say I know a lot of jutsu,’ he isn’t looking at her, he sounds somewhat amused at least, ‘I was promoted to genin very young, same with chunin and jounin,’ he goes quiet after this sentence.  
There’s something behind that, but Akiara won’t be pushing it.  
  
Akiara is definitely sure she will be going to Konohagakure with team 7. There’s a pull that makes her want to follow Kakashi anywhere, and she’s curious enough that she won’t dig her heels in against it.  
  
She even somewhat likes his genin, Naruto’s loud and maybe too eager, and Sasuke seems to broad constantly. But they’re kids, she can grow to like them.  
And she wants to spend more time with Sakura, teach the pinkette things that Kakashi might not think to teach her. 

================================  
  


There’s crying when they leave.  
Inari and Naruto have bonded during Team 7’s time in the land of waves apparently.  
There’s something nice about the sight, civilian and shinobi, bawling at parting ways.  
Akiara has to admit she hadn’t been paying particular attention to Naruto, he’s loud and hyperactive, she’d filed that away as all she needed to know.  
  
She was more curious about Sakura. Maybe she doesn’t have a lot in common with Sakura, but something of the girl reminds Akiara of herself at that age.  
Akiara had also been more book smart dying her academy years, her poor use of ninjutsu being her only driving factor behind improving her taijutsu.  
  
She’d pushed herself further when her soul mark had appeared.  
Sakura definitely has her soul mark by now, Akiara assumes Sakura is hoping to be platonic with her soulmate, as she clearly has a huge crush on Sasuke.  
  
The boys probably have their soul marks too, but neither has given any indication of who their soulmates might be, but then, if they aren’t on the same team as their soulmates, then they’re away from them right now, so there are no signs they could be giving.  
  
The trip to Konohagakure isn’t long, Akiara is bursting to run ahead.  
She’s heard of Konoha before of course, never seen the village with her own eyes. There’s something enthralling with the idea that she’ll be living there.  
  
As they travel, Akiara is careful to stay close to team 7, but not too close. Rather, keeping pace with them from a short distance behind.  
Kakashi is seemingly unbothered by her choice to hang back, he’s mostly quiet himself, leaving the three genin to talk.  
  
The three genin mostly bicker.  
She speeds up to catch up with Team 7 once the gates into Konoha come into view. Naruto greets her loudly, as if she hadn’t been with them the whole trip.  
All three genin seem mildly tired from the trip, Sakura the most tired, and Naruto the least.  
They still haven’t been informed of Akiara being their sensei’s soulmate, and aren’t aware of why Akiara has come to their village with them.  
  
Akiara thinks it’s better that way, for now at least.  
  
At the gates Kakashi immediately waves the genin away, sending them off towards their homes.  
He pauses at the desk by the gate, watches his genin disappear into the village for a moment before gesturing over his shoulder towards Akiara, ‘I’m taking her to the Hokage.’  
  
They’re entirely unbothered by anyone as they walk through the village. Akiara can’t help but stare around at everything.  
She hasn’t been in a village this huge pretty much ever, and Konoha is so green compared to Kumo. She’s thrilled at the sight, eager to hopefully remain here among all the greenery.  
  
If she can get her own place eventually, Akiara wants to grow a garden. One full of many different colours.  
They enter the Hokage’s office with too much each in Akiara’s opinion. Back in Kumogakure she never got in to see the Kage immediately, her gaze slides back to Kakashi as she thinks - the fact they didn’t have to wait probably has something to do with him.  
  
Behind the large desk is an old man, he glances up when the pair enter, gaze thoughtful, ‘Kakashi,’ greets the Hokage, ‘and who is this?’  
Akiara forces herself to step forward, she’s never trusted a Kage, ‘Akiara,’ she bows briefly, to which the Hokage quirks an eyebrow before glancing to Kakashi.  
  
‘She’s my soulmate,’ reveals Kakashi, he tugs his glove off, showing her handwriting on his hand, ‘she wishes to become a citizen of Konoha.’  
‘I see,’ answers the Hokage. Akiara has a bad feeling about him, and this isn’t a feeling she gets about many people, she stays quiet.  
  


He shuffles through papers on his desk, apparently behind on paperwork from the sheer amount of paper on his desk.  
He manages to find whatever it was he was looking for, he passes it over, ‘Fill these out, bring them back when you can, for now you can stay with Kakashi, I’ll assign a team the task of keeping an eye on you,’ his gaze flicks to Kakashi only briefly before returning to Akiara.  
  
The moment is long enough for Akiara to guess that maybe Kakashi is more skilled than he’s even given credit for, that it’s likely he was previously part of a group higher ranked than jounin.  
  
‘Hai,’ Akiara and Kakashi respond at the same time before leaving the room.  
As soon as they’re outside, Akiara pauses to marvel at all the green around her again.  
‘You’ve seen greenery before,’ remarks Kakashi, voice curious, he shoves his hands into his pockets, ‘what’s so fascinating about Konoha in particular?’  
  
‘I stay away from major villages, so Kumo’s the only village I’ve really seen, and Konoha isn’t anything like Kumo,’ answers Akiara, she doesn’t look at Kakashi, she has all the time in the world to look at him, she wants to see every single inch of Konoha.  
  
They take their time walking to Kakashi’s apartment, Akiara supposes the slow pace is her fault, she’s dragging the walking pace down with her constant pausing to look around and see more. Not that he seems bothered by it.  
  
Already Akiara can tell she’s going to love living in Konoha - at least as far as the scenery goes.  
She can’t say much for all other aspects of Konoha.  
They arrive at his apartment and he’s quick to show her how to enter the apartment, as he has what is quite frankly an obnoxious amount of traps and seals in place to secure the apartment.  
  
Kakashi shoots her a way look, ‘I have to go hand in a report about that mission, can I leave you here?’  
‘Sure,’ Akiara shrugs, gazing aboyut the apartment, she dumps her bags down on the ground and wanders over to the bookcase, ‘I’ll just stay here and quietly read, I won’t get up to anything at all.’  
  
She deliberately ignores the suspicious look Kakashi sends her, carefully selecting a book and settling on a decidedly uncomfortable couch - she’s sat on rocks more comfortable than this thing.

================================

As soon as Kakashi is gone, Akiara leaves the apartment, taking only her wallet with her.  
After only a few minutes of sitting on that couch, Akiara had realized something important - all of Kakashi’s furniture is old and dreadful.  
  
Outside she gets the impression of being watched. The team the Hokage had mentioned, she supposes.  
She couldn’t sense exactly where they were, only that eyes were on her, and while she wasn’t entirely comfortable with it, this was the price of joining a ninja village - of course they were wary of her, she’d deserted her own village, and they had no clue of what her skill set or level was.  
  
Chances are, she could be a danger to the village.  
Now, of course she wasn’t, Akiara was thrilled to be living in a village again, wouldn’t dare do anything to harm the village without good reason, but they had no proof of that.  
  
The first store she finds is a clothing store, her current outfit with the grey loose fitting dress and red wrappings stands out a little too much in such a green village.  
The store is clearly aimed towards shinobi and Akiara browses with selection with interest.  
Konoha ninja definitely dress differently to those in Kumogakure, and Akiara intends on maybe dressing a little more like a Konoha ninja.  
  
Or . . .maybe she should be buying civilian clothing. She wasn’t sure if she was going to become an active shinobi of Konoha, maybe they’d expect her to be Kakashi’s civilian soulmate?  
  
She finds some clothing she likes and buys it, hesitating somewhat as she isn’t sure when she’s going to be able to earn more money.  
She supposes Kakashi isn’t exactly going to let her starve, but Akiara doesn’t want to rely on her soulmate or force him to fund her living.  
  
After an hour of wandering aimlessly, Akiara has to ask a civilian for directions to a furniture store, they eye her somewhat warily after seeing her hitai-ate, but still provide her with directions.  
She smiles politely and beelines for the store, quietly wishing she had a map of some kind. 

She supposes a couch isn’t the only important thing, as unless she wants to sleep on the couch she buys - she’ll need to purchase a futon.  
Both expenses hadn’t exactly been something she’d planned for.  
Akiara doesn’t hesitate to sit on each and every couch in the store for several minutes, comparing the softness of each, and ignoring how any of them look.  
  
She’s never been furniture shopping before, as back in Kumogakure before she left, she’d lived in the one house ever since she’d arrived there as a young child, and the furniture in that house had been provided for her.  
  
Akiara is lying on a bright yellow sofa when her browsing is interrupted, ‘you weren’t supposed to leave the apartment.’  
She tilts her head back on the arm of the sofa to gaze up at Kakashi, ‘you only asked if you could leave me in the apartment,’ she assures him, ‘you never mentioned not leaving.’  
  
There’s a pause, Kakashi sighs and glances around at all the furniture, ‘what are you doing here?’  
‘Your couch sucks, and I need a futon to sleep on,’ Akiara sits up and stretches her back while still sitting.  
  
‘ . . .so you came here to replace my couch and buy a futon?’  
‘I also bought new clothes,’ agrees Akiara.  
Kakashi pushes Akiara’s legs so he can sit on the couch so he can sit on the couch next to her, once sitting he seems to almost sink into the couch, visually untensing.  
‘Ah,’ he goes, ‘you may have a point about my couch sucking,’ he concedes, reaches for the lavel with the price of the couch.  
  
Akiara allows a small smile to appear on her face, ‘that’s good, because you’ll have to help me get it back to your apartment.’ She puts her legs on Kakashi’s lap, is mildly surprised when he doesn’t shove them off even if he does momentarily go tense.  
‘Sure,’ Kakashi rolls his eyes, relaxes further onto the couch, ‘you go look at the futons, I’ll pay for this.’  
  
‘I’m the one who wanted the new couch,’ says Akiara, narrowing her eyes, ‘I’ll pay for it.’  
Kakashi waves her off, ‘it’s for my apartment, besides, who knows when you’ll be working again, I can buy the couch.’  
  
Shooting Kakashi a way look, Akiara decides to concede, she wanders over to look at the futons.  
She glances over her shoulder towards him again once she reaches the futons, seeing that Kakashi has chosen to lie on the couch, and by all appearances has gone to sleep.  
Akiara rolls her eyes, she doubts he’s anywhere near as relaxed as he looks - no doubt he’s still 100% aware of his surroundings, no doubt knows exactly where in the room she is, even.  
  
She’s quick to pick out a futon and pay for it before sealing it into a scroll so it can be transported easier.  
She pauses for a moment to mentally run through all the items she remembers sealing away, she needs to sort through her scrolls at some point, she supposes.  
  
Back at the couch, Kakashi has apparently paid for it and watched Akiara seal away the futon, he gestures to the couch, quirking an eyebrow.  
Akiara rolls her eyes and seals the couch away, also. They leave the store together, Kakashi jokingly offering to carry the scroll with both couch and futon sealed in it.  
  


‘I spoke to the Hokage,’ Kakashi tells her as they walk, his fingers seem to twitch towards his pocket, as if not used to walking alongside someone through the village, ‘he wants you under watch for a month, then you can take the exam to see if you’re suitable to being a shinobi in Konohagakure,’ he pauses, shoots her an assessing gaze, ‘you don’t have to take the exam, you can choose to be a civilian.’  
  
‘I’ll take the exam,’ she assures him, relieved that she’s getting the option, she couldn’t imagine being a civilian, she generally enjoyed training and she liked carrying out missions.  
They arrive at his apartment, they work together to remove the old couch then shuffle the furniture around.  
There’s only two bedrooms, one is full of dog beds, and the other is Kakashi’s bedroom, they shift the dog beds so Akiara’s futon can fit in the corner under a window.

Akiara’s thrilled at the idea of dogs being around, she loves animals, but her own summons don’t typically want to hang around.  
‘You said you can use taijutsu,’ notes Kakashi as they shift the new couch into place.  
Akiara nods without much thought, still thinking about the dogs she’s going to get to meet.  
  
Kakashi hesitates, ‘you seemed to like Sakura, and she seemed to like working with you in the land of waves, I’d appreciate if you could continue to train her occasionally,’ he flops onto the couch, apparently content with where it is, Akiara can’t read his expression at all and is now starting to dislike the mask.  
  
‘I don’t understand Sakura,’ admits Kakashi, there’s a very slight air of discomfort to him, ‘she still diets, and she doesn’t seem to want to improve, I was hoping you might understand her better,’ Akiara gets the impression it’s taking a lot for him to be able to say this, he no doubt genuinely wants the best for Sakura.  
  
‘She does want to improve,’ Akiara assures him, mildly surprised that Kakashi would think Sakura doesn’t, ‘she took to tree walking quickly, and she’s soaked in every bit of information I’ve provided her, maybe she just needs a different teaching style than Naruto and Sasuke do.’  
  
Kakashi looks thoughtful, he nods before removing a book from his pocket, Akiara frowns on realizing it’s one of those poorly written smut books.  
  
  
  
  
[[Art Instagram if you wanna see my Nart Art Sooner]](https://www.instagram.com/jaspberi.art/)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my main laptops currently away being repaired and will be away for several weeks (potentially up to four weeks!)  
> which doesn't impact my writing at all bc i have a smaller laptop i can use for writing and all my writings stored online  
> but i can't do my usual art ;c instead I'm learning to draw on my phone


	5. One Month and Renovations

The next morning, Akiara wakes up before the sun is up.  
She’s quick to observe that Kakashi isn’t up yet, no doubt she has someone else lurking around watching her anyway.  
She passes by Kakashi’s genin hanging out boredly, seemingly waiting for Kakashi.  
Naruto and Sakura both wave enthusiastically, but Sasuke ignores her.  
  
Akiara manages to find a training ground nearby quickly after that.  
She starts going through basic kata, wondering if Kakashi will track her down to this location just to scold her.  
She reasons with herself that he never said she couldn’t leave the apartment.  
  
It’s several hours before she senses someone approaching her, it’s immediately obvious that they’re deliberately making sure Akiara notices their approach - unlike the eyes that had been on her since she left Kakashi’s apartment.  
  
‘Yo,’ Kakashi greets her, he shoves his hand into his pockets and watches her as she goes through her kata.  
‘Kakashi,’ Akiara greets without pausing, curious as to what he’s here for.  
They’re both quiet for a few minutes, usually Akiara would be uncomfortable being watched while training, but she doesn’t think she minds Kakashi.  
  
‘We should spar sometime,’ Kakashi finally says, Akiara glances at him and notices that he has a book in hand.  
Akiara shoots him an amused look, ‘sure,’ she answers, now starting to stretch, fully intending on running laps around the village - both for the exercise and a way of seeing more of the village.  
  
Kakashi now makes a show of glancing at his wrist, as if checking his watch - he isn’t wearing one - ‘I guess I should go meet with my lovely genin,’ he muses out loud, ‘they’ve been waiting since,’ he pauses, looking thoughtful, ‘six?’  
  
Akiara recalls seeing the three, so they had been waiting, ‘do you always make them wait?’  
‘The hope is that one day they’ll take initiative and start training before I get there,’ Kakashi sighs, watches her a moment later then disappears in a swirl of leaves.  
Are all leaf ninja this dramatic? wonders Akiara to herself. 

================================  
  


After two weeks, Akiara is pretty sure she is extremely bored of all the free time she has.  
Despite her occasional training with Sakura, she still has too much of it.  
She’s replaced nearly all of Kakashi’s furniture now, and there’s only so much furniture shopping a person can do - even if she has discovered she really likes furniture shopping.  
She’s also taken up a hobby - knitting.  
And while Akiara does like the blanket she’s managed to complete, she’d rather be doing something more _active_.  
  
She’s also actually found she’s pretty eager to buy her own house so she has a reason for more furniture shopping in future, but not anytime soon, she’s sick of it for now. Kakashi’s probably relieved that she’s grown tired of it for now, also.  
  
In the last two weeks, Akiara’s been improving her ninjutsu through sheer boredom, with little else to do, she spends most of her day in the training grounds.  
She doesn’t seem to see much of Kakashi, she mostly sees him for dinner, or occasionally he comes along to watch her train Sakura.  
  
She supposes having a team of genin can keep a person busy - especially if you insist on being late to meeting them every time.  
Today, Kakashi has decided to surprise her, as when she arrives at her usual training grounds - she has usual training grounds, she’s very thrilled about that - he’s waiting for her there.  
  


Kakashi’s boredly leaning against a post, book in hand, seemingly unaware of his surroundings.  
She quirks an eyebrow as she nears but doesn’t comment, just starts her morning stretch, the first thing she does on arriving each morning. Akiara likes to save meditation for the end of the day.  
  
‘I thought we could spar today,’ suggests Kakashi as Akiara finishes stretching, Akiara glances up to see he’s looking at her now instead of his book.  
‘Sure,’ Akiara decides, ‘just taijutsu?’ she proposes, she may have worked on her ninjutsu, but she’s fairly confident that Kakashi could still easily out-do her with that.  
  
‘Hai,’ agrees Kakashi without hesitation, he looks her over before straightening up as he pushes away from the post, putting his book away in the same move.  
  
They begin the spar.  
Kakashi is clearly faster than she is, Akiara observes, no contest at all.  
And he’d probably be naturally stronger, but Akiara tends to charge her limbs with chakra, and even when she doesn’t do this, the combination of doing it so often, and her focus on strength training has left her stronger than she would have been.  
  
It leads to an interesting game of cat and mouse, as Akiara tries to catch Kakashi while he tries to avoid allowing her to land a blow.  
They spar for hours, until Akiara is panting and wishing she’d eaten a larger breakfast, and the sun is well into the sky. She comes to a halt, glancing to Kakashi - who has gone still as soon as she’s stopped attacking - ‘your genin are waiting for you, aren’t they?’ she asks.  
  
Kakashi’s expression betrays nothing, he’s quiet for a moment before glancing up at the sky, ‘I gave them the day off.’  
‘That’s good,’ says Akiara, ‘they deserve it.’  
Kakashi shrugs, gestures for her to follow him, ‘before I moved into my apartment I had a house,’ he tells her as they walk, Akiara shoves her hands into her pockets, curious about why he’s telling her this now.  
  
‘It was my fathers house,’ Kakashi continues, they’re walking towards the edge of town at a somewhat leisurely pace.  
There’s silence until they reach a decently sized house, there’s a strange look to Kakashi’s visible eye, ‘if you pass and become a Konohagakure shinobi, you could live here with me,’ he offers, shoving his hands into his pockets.  
  
Akiara stares at the house, notes how tense Kakashi looks, it’s taken him a lot to be able to make this offer, he doesn’t like this house, no doubt doesn’t even want to be near it.  
She smiles, ‘I’d love to live here with you, Kakashi.’  
  
Kakashi doesn’t visibly react, he stares at the house then gestures for her to approach the house with him, he shows her how to pass the security, ‘it’s been a long time since I last lived here,’ he remarks, ‘you seem to like buying furniture, do what you like with the place,’ he glances to her, ‘just let me know if you need money for anything, it is my house and I am willing to pay for things for it.’  
  
Akiara has heard Kakashi’s genin grumble enough to know he doesn’t often willingly pay for things - asides from her training with Sakura, Kakashi is very careful to keep her distant from anything close to him, she can understand why - so she knows not to overlook this gesture.  
  
‘Anything in particular you want done with the place?’ she asks as she starts to look through the place, noting each room and thinking about what she could do with them.  
‘Just stuff for the dogs,’ Kakashi shrugs, he looks reluctant to even be in here, Akiara resolves to make this a more cheerful and comfortable place - she wonders if he’d protest to her knocking down walls and putting up new ones.  
She definitely wants to paint the walls, maybe some pale yellow?  
  
Yellow is her favourite colour, she might even start wearing more yellow if she does become an official kunoichi of Konoha.

================================  
  


Akiara likes Kakashi’s house.  
It has plenty of open space and she’s eager to fill it with nice furniture, bright furniture preferably - like the pale yellow sofa in Kakashi’s apartment.  
  
There’ll definitely be a need for plenty of bookshelves, Kakashi seems to like reading, and she’s always one for encouraging hobbies that don’t relate to being a shinobi.  
He does also have a large amount of practical books, which she has been making full use of.  
A large amount of them are books specific to Konoha, which means techniques she’s seen Konoha ninja use, but never really knew the theory behind them or how to put them into use herself.  
(She ignores the multiple bingo books)  
  
Kakashi has already indicated what room she can have, so she’ll definitely be putting some bookshelves in there too, and a large super comfortable bed.  
All of this, of course, would be easier to do if she were already earning money.  
Plus, she still trains everyday, at last she has found things to eat up her time, she’s never been so happy to be busy.  
  
So far she’s painted a single wall a nice shade of pale yellow, she likes the yellow and thinks it’ll look nice with a good amount of plants around the house.  
She’s currently working on painting a second wall, intently focused but also wondering if she should use clones to get the jobs done quicker.  
  
The walls have to be painted before she can add any furniture, and she’s quickly growing impatient - buying and possibly customizing new furniture is the best part of the whole process.  
  
There’s a knock at the door.  
Akiara frowns, placing her paintbrush down. She wasn’t aware anyone knew she was here - she’s certain Kakashi hasn’t even told anyone about her.  
She’s mostly known via people mentioning the stranger with the slashed through Kumo hitai-ate.  
  
She’s on her guard as she heads for the door.  
On the other side is the three genin of Team 7, the three of them stare at her.  
‘Akiara-san!’ chirps Naruto, beaming at her, excited to see her for whatever reason.  
  
Sakura looks thoughtful, ‘Kakashi-sensei sent us here, he said the owner filed for a team of genin to come and assist with cleaning up and remodeling the house.’  
Naruto nods eagerly, swiveling on the spot to try see every part of the house as quickly as possible, ‘Wow, you got a house real fast.’ So Kakashi hasn’t told them that it’s _his_ house.  
  
Akiara smiles, leads them further into the house, ‘it’s my soulmates house, I didn’t realize he was having a genin team come to help.’ Sasuke shoots her a curious look at this statement.  
‘So that’s why you came back to Konoha with us,’ Sakura perks up, understanding dawning in her eyes, she glances back to Akiara, a curious glint to her gaze.  
  
‘I was just painting the walls,’ Akiara tells them, leading them to the room she’d been working in, ‘good thing I bought extra paint brushes.’  
Naruto gazes around the house as he goes over to the paint, ‘this place could use some plants, I have Kakashi a plant last week, one named Mr. Ukki.’  
Akiara hums, remembering Kakashi returning home with the plant, she had immediately liked the plant when she’d seen it, but she supposes she can’t tell Naruto this, ‘I did plan on getting a lot of plants for the place.’  
  
Naruto perks up, ‘we’re coming here for an hour each day for the mission, can you take me with you to pick out plants?’ Sakura and Sasuke have quietly started working, but Naruto doesn’t seem to notice this.  
  
If she stays in Konoha after this month is up, thinks Akiara to herself, it would pay to get along with her soulmates genin, and she does like Naruto’s bright personality. And she does think she’s already won Sakura’s approval, the only female of team 7 does seem to appreciate having someone that only teaches her.  
  
‘Sure,’ she allows, ‘once all the walls are painted.’  
The genin are lucky, muses Akiara to herself, she’d used clones and thoroughly cleaned the whole house before they’d arrived, so now they only had the fun parts to help her with.  
She can’t help but feel quietly pleased that Kakashi has sent them her way, she can’t help but feel that means something. 

================================  
  
The month passes quickly now that she’s spending time with the three genin also.  
Akiara likes their company.  
Naruto is quick to accept her, and is an endless ball of energy that motivates her to keep working on the house just that _little_ bit longer.  
She still trains Sakura every few days, and she seems to slowly open up a bit more each time, and maybe listen a bit more each time.  
Sasuke remains stubborn, he doesn’t glare as much, but he’s a long way off from actually _liking_ Akiara, even if he doesn’t _dislike_ her now.  
  
But today is time for her exam. To determined whether or not she can be trusted to work as a genin of Konohagakure - she’ll have to acquire chunin and jounin rank the same way anyone else would, via exam or field promotion.  
  
She goes to the Academy early in the morning, her exam is being given by a chunin that introduces himself as Iruka, she recognizes the name as one Naruto has mentioned, but doesn’t say anything.  
It’s likely that Iruka is trustworthy if Naruto likes him so much, he’d said that Iruka was his former teacher that sometimes buys him ramen.  
  
The first portion of the exam is a written one, Akiara’s pretty confident she can pass this exam.  
  
  
  
  
[[Art Instagram if you want to see my Nart Art Sooner](https://www.instagram.com/jaspberi.art/)]  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I've had a few chapters of this rewritten for a while, but haven't been working on them lately  
>  . . .kinda only working on them now as a break from nanowrimo  
> because what's the perfect break from nanowrimo? more writing


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